Virtual Drummer BRUTE

Name: Virtual Drummer BRUTE
Price: 119 USD
Author: UJAM

by UJAM · Drum Instrument · Hard rock drum instrument

Not rated yet

A drum instrument for loud 90s and 2000s grunge, punk, nu-metal and crossover, with five kits and 713 phrases.

Smack and Grit controls shape attack and dirt; it lists at $119 and was $28.56 on sale.

Best for: Drums. Genres: Rock & Indie, Metal.

Keywords: acoustic drums, 90s, dirty, aggressive, modern, punchy, vintage, 60s, clean, extreme, gritty, heavy, tube, Y2K.

What it does

BRUTE ("Smells like mean drumming") is UJAM's drummer for hard and heavy styles: grunge, punk, rock and crossover. UJAM describes the sound as "loud, wild, edgy and cutting through the mix", tuned to hold up against distorted guitars.

Five kits: genre-focused kits with a 90s rock character, each with controls for decay and tuning.
Three mic sets: vintage 1960s Sennheiser MD21 mics processed through a Manley Voxbox, vintage tube and ribbon overheads, and modern Schoeps mics.
Smack control: brings out the attack transients for more clarity and punch.
Grit control: crossfades between the clean and the dirty mic sets.
Styles and phrases: 31 styles with 23 phrases each, 713 in total, played from single MIDI keys, plus micro-timing control.
Mix presets: six multi-bus "mix personalities" and a master section, plus per-channel controls; Sound On Sound lists reverb, compression and saturation among the options.
MIDI drag and drop: move phrases into your DAW to edit them there.

A free trial download is offered.

Source: UJAM product page

When to use it

BRUTE gets you loud, pre-mixed 90s rock drums with ready-made patterns, which suits demos and guitar-driven tracks. Compared with EZdrummer 3 and Superior Drummer 3, it has much less control, as Sound On Sound noted, but a drum part takes minutes and few decisions. It is rougher and more aggressive than UJAM's own SOLID, which Sound On Sound suggests for mainstream rock. For modern metal, GetGood's Modern & Massive 2 offers tighter metal production and far more detailed editing. Its Grit and Smack controls are the quick way to dial in how dirty and punchy the kit sounds.

Best for: grunge, punk, garage and alternative rock drum tracks, and fast drum parts for rock demos.
Genres: rock, grunge, punk, garage and crossover.
Look elsewhere if: you want mainstream rock drums (UJAM SOLID), modern metal drums with detailed editing (Modern & Massive 2 or Superior Drummer 3), or full kit control (EZdrummer 3).
Tip: in busy patterns with splashy cymbals, ease BRUTE's level back a little so it doesn't crowd the guitars (Sound On Sound).

What producers say

Sound On Sound recommends it for aggressive rock, with less control than the big drum suites as the main trade-off.

Sound On Sound (John Walden, February 2022) gave it 4 out of 5, praising a workflow that avoids "parameter paralysis" and its appeal for building a drum part with "minimum fuss".
Criticisms: less control than EZdrummer or Superior Drummer, a sound that can get too aggressive in busy patterns, and not the best fit for mainstream rock.

Sound On Sound review

Where to buy

UJAM: $119
PluginFox: $119
AudioDeluxe: $119

Tutorials and reviews

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